Koi? Koi!
by Meowzakers
Summary: Umi feels troubled, and Kotori and Umi take a walk down memory lane together. Oneshot. Kotori/Umi.


"It's rare seeing your arrows so spread out on the target, Sonoda-senpai."

Umi looked over to an unfamiliar girl donning the same club uniform as her. She lowered her bow and held back a sigh. "Hm? Ah, yes. I'm … trying out something new."

It's not like Umi has been skipping out on her responsibilities as a member of the archery club, but juggling two clubs that demand after school practice means that priorities needed to be taken. She divided the time between the ending of her final class and the chime of the final bell that told all students to go home into two and gave herself a 15 minute break period to transition herself from the Archery club's Sonoda Umi to µ's Sonoda Umi.

Managing multiple extracurricular activities was nothing new to her. Ever since she was a child her family would make her learn martial arts and kendo. The weekends, after completing homework, were dedicated to traditional Japanese dance and flower arrangement. She was usually able to finally relax and unwind after dinner each day but even then she was learning. While she drank her tea, or apple juice whenever she was feeling ambitious, her grandmother would sit next to her and teach her calligraphy or about the tea ceremony.

Yes, she has always been able to manage—and even excel. Even her school idol activities have been fruitful but lately she's been wondering if someday, everything will be just too much for her.

Umi looked at her assigned target. She was able to land one bullseye at the beginning of practice but all of her subsequent shots got progressively farther and farther from her mark as time progressed and her concentration faltered.

"Umi-senpai? The final bell's about to ring so the president said we could all call it a day."

Umi turned to face her clubmate. She scanned the girl's face but couldn't recollect anything about her, not even her last name.

_She calls me senpai, so she's probably one of the newer members. I already know the freshmen that joined at the beginning of the year. It's been a while since I've stayed for the club's entire practice period though._

"Yes, thank you. I'll get changed in a second." Umi said. The girl smiled and bid her farewell with the same kind of enthusiasm one would expect from any greenhorn.

Umi mindlessly changed back into her school uniform and prepared her bag. "Haa …"

"Tired, Umi-chan?" asked an all-too-familiar high-pitched voice. She didn't even have to turn around to know who the speaker was.

"Kotori," Umi said, oddly feeling a bit more energized than before, "were you waiting for me?"

Kotori hummed. "Did you not want me to?"

"A-ah, no,"

"No?"

"I-I mean …!" Umi tried rationalizing the conversation despite the lack of response from the logical part of her brain. _She asked me a negative question, right? So, a negative answer would be appropriate … right?_

"Um …"

Without her realizing it, Kotori already placed all of her arrows into the black storage tube she brings home everyday. She handed it to Umi. "Ehehe. I'm kidding, Umi-chan. Dance practice actually just finished so I thought I'd check here to see if you're still at school."

"Is … that so? Is Honoka not with you?"

"She and Rin-chan were complaining about being hungry the whole time. It was really cute but I bet you would've scolded them, Umi-chan."

They made their way out of the clubroom and Umi put her shoes back on. "Of course I would! School idols, above all other students, should be the most conscious about their weight. Therefore, you shouldn't be spoiling them too much, Kotori. They'll only end up regretting their choices in the end."

Kotori didn't really agree with Umi's thoughts on the sensitive topic of weight, but she understood where she was coming from. Morals aside, Kotori loved seeing Umi get worked up over any topic. The dark blue-haired girl probably hasn't noticed it herself, but whenever Umi got caught up in a topic she would close her eyes and tighten her fists. If she was feeling extra proud of what she was saying she would even point her index finger out.

It was absolutely adorable.

"But you know, Umi-chan, they didn't go out to eat because of me this time. Nico-chan was getting annoyed at the two of them so Nozomi-chan quieted them down by saying she'll take them to a new ramen shop that opened near her apartment."

Umi furrowed her brows and looked up at the sky in thought. "That Nozomi … it's like she can always find an answer that would, to an extent, satisfy everybody."

Kotori hummed in agreement. "Well, other than that you didn't really miss anything during practice. How was training for your upcoming archery tournament?"

"I'm glad I'm not missing much. As for archery, well … unfortunately, I think my training is backfiring on me, Kotori."

"Ehh!? But hard work never betrays you!"

"I know, and that's what's bothering me too. I'm not just having an off day, it's something else. I was able to narrow it down to two possible scenarios, but I'm not sure which is my problem."

A green man flashed across the street. Kotori glanced at him, and then at the park not too far off from them. She placed a hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Umi-chan. I'll do everything I can to help you, so do you want to talk about it at that park?" Kotori said as she began crossing the street.

Umi quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind.

.

Umi sat at the park bench and rubbed her hands on her knees, weighing her options. Usually when she was feeling troubled about something she would confront both Kotori and Honoka at the same time and discuss with them. Of course, there were some things that she would only feel comfortable discussing with Honoka instead of Kotori and vice versa. But why Kotori? She looked at Kotori, who was farther in the park and was choosing drinks at a vending machine.

"Starting the whole 'school idol' thing was Honoka's idea, and yet …" Umi trailed off.

_Is it because Kotori just happened to come visit me? It's not like Kotori's opinion isn't to be valued …_

"... Do I really want to burden her with this?"

Kotori appeared in front of Umi and placed a can in her fidgety hands. "Umi-chan. I got you this juice. You like this brand, don't you?"

Umi tightened her grip on the cold can. This was the juice she drank back when she was a kid. The supermarket near her house stopped selling this brand so she hasn't had it in years.

Kotori sat down right next to her best friend and opened her can of fruit au lait. "I remember you let me drink some when I came over to your house that one day I was feeling really upset."

"Hm? Ah … now that you mention it, there was a day like that. I think that was the first time I saw you so upset." Umi couldn't help but smile. She opened her can and took a sip.

_Sweet, but not too sweet._

Kotori bumped her shoulder into Umi's. "Gosh, Umi-chan! That was a really important day to me, you know?"

.

"_W-what's wrong, Kotori!?" Umi asked her friend, who simply stood in the entranceway of her home, sniffling and sobbing allthewhile._

"_U … Uumi-chan …"_

"_Your clothes will get dirty! Uh, um … you can come in … I have tissues!"_

_Kotori started bawling._

_Umi bolted to her and took her hands into her own. "N_—_no! Don't cry, don't cry, okay, Kotori-chan? Ah, that's right! My grandma taught me something really interesting so I'll show you. Come on, I'll show you. Follow me, okay?" _

_Umi let go of Kotori's hands and laid out a pair of slippers for her guest. After Kotori silently put them on Umi held Kotori's hand and started walking down the hall. "You can come to the living room, okay? Is that okay?"_

_Kotori tried forming a proper answer but the tightness in her throat made her muster only a small "un."_

_._

Kotori placed her warm fruit au lait against her face, taking in its warmth. "Umi-chan was acting really flustered. That wasn't even the first time I came over to your house."

_How warm._

"Th-that was the first time you came by yourself," Umi mumbled, taking another sip of her drink, "besides, what was I supposed to do when you were crying like that?"

"Eheh. But you were really cute, Umi-chan. I knew coming to your house was a good idea."

"Well … thank you for the compliment."

.

"_Here, Kotori. Crying dehighdat … dehydro … dehydra_—_it makes you lose water! This is my favorite juice and it always makes me feel really good."_

"_Thank you, Umi-chan."_

_Umi walked back to the other side of the table and took out a wooden box from underneath the table. _

"_What's that?"_

"_They're hanafuda cards. My grandmother taught me how to play this game called Koi-Koi. I'll show you so we can play together, okay?"_

_Kotori sipped her juice as she watched Umi set up the cards. The juice was a little bland and needed more sugar, but it was in no case bad. Kotori thought about commenting on it but when she remembered Umi calling it her favorite drink she reconsidered. _

_She took another sip._

_Small hands fumbled with colorful cards adorned with pictures. "We each get this many cards … and what we have to do is match the cards in the center with the cards in our hands. See, I have a pretty card with these red flowers in my hands and they match this card with red flowers and a butterfly. And, and whoever collects the prettiest picture pieces wins!"_

_Kotori rubbed her eyes one final time and looked at the cards in her hand. "Ooh! Umi-chan, Umi-chan, what's this card for?" she beamed._

_She placed a card with three birds flying over a simplistically-drawn hill in front of her host's face._

"_Ahh, that goes with the other cards with hills on them! See, this one has a hill with the sun setting behind it! Here you go!"_

_._

Umi watched the sun as it began setting behind some skyscrapers. She moved a bit closer to Kotori. "Come to think of it, I tried to cheer you up with hanafuda cards, didn't I?"

"Yeah, we played Koi-Koi. But we weren't playing it correctly at all!" She laughed.

"I thought we were supposed to make a picture with the cards we won. Each of the cards having points didn't even cross my mind."

"Well you weren't completely wrong. You needed to collect a certain number of specific cards to get points, right? It doesn't sound very impressive if you say it like that, though. The way you described it back then made the game sound really beautiful."

Kotori had already finished her warm drink and resorted to leaning her head on Umi's shoulder for warmth as the temperature dropped with each passing minute. Umi tensed. She took another sip of her juice and surrendered to Kotori's proximity.

"... Do you remember the rule we made up? That, if you get all three of a certain type of card you automatically win." Umi explained.

"Hmm …"

.

"_Ahh-! Umi-chan, there's another bird card there! How do I get it? It's so cute …"_

"_Hmm, you need a card that has small, green leaves hanging off a branch. See? There's leaves behind the bird."_

"_Hmm … oh, I have one! Ehe, I'm taking the pretty bird."_

_Umi couldn't keep herself from smiling as she watched one of her most precious friends genuinely enjoy the same cards that she herself enjoyed._

"_... Kotori. I have another bird card." She revealed her card and watched her new playmate's eyes light up once more. "I'll let you have it."_

"_Ehh? But that's your card, Umi-chan."_

"_It's okay. Since your name is Kotori you can have all of the bird cards!"_

_She reluctantly took the card and kept looking back and forth between her cards and Umi's smiling face. She mumbled, "Are you really sure?"_

"_Yes! They're_—_"_

_._

"—'Kotori' cards." Kotori whispered. Honestly, it was a silly and embarrassing name. The history of the name however made her turn her face towards Umi's collarbone area and made her cheeks feel hot.

Umi placed her juice can—still relatively cold—against Kotori's cheek. She jolted and quickly lifted her head from Umi's shoulder.

As if to make sure Kotori didn't completely separate herself from her childhood friend, Umi lightly grabbed one of Kotori's hands on instinct.

"So you do remember." Umi said, clearly pleased.

She blushed. "Ahh, Umi-chan, you're no fair," she whined, squeezing the other girl's cold hand. "I told you that that was an important day for me."

"Mm. Actually, I don't think I ever asked you why you came to my house crying in the first place. What happened?"

She stared blankly at the nearly-empty juice can and tried to remember. "Honestly, I can't even remember anymore." She shrugged.

"R-really? Then why was that day so important? I always thought you had a very important conversation with your mother that day, or something along those lines."

"Umi-chan, you really don't know?" Ever so slightly and without the other girl noticing, she inched her face closer to Umi's.

"I'm sorry to say that I don't."

"Umi-chan."

"Yes, wh—"

.

_Umi stood in front of her front door with Kotori, who kept insisting that she was fine and didn't need to be walked home._

"_Are you really not going to cry anymore? You can bring my juice home with you if you want."_

"_I said that I'm alright now, Umi-chan. Actually, I'm really, really, real-ly happy right now."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah! And it's all because of you, Umi-chan." She hugged her concerned friend for a brief second and bounced off of her the next second. She knew Umi wasn't very comfortable with close contact yet, despite Honoka constantly being in her face._

_Umi had raised her arms to return the hug, but was left with them awkwardly hanging when Kotori suddenly ended the hug. She quickly dropped her arms back to her sides and coughed. "... I'm glad. Be safe, okay? I don't want to see you cry again, okay? But, but if you do, I'll play with you again, okay?"_

_Kotori laughed. "O-kay!" She said slowly, enunciating each syllable. "And whenever you're feeling upset, I'll do my best to make you smile again!" She looked at Umi excitedly. "... Okay?"_

_She grinned from ear to ear. "... Okay!"_

_._

Umi shot her head back and, by reflex, covered her mouth with her hand. "K-K-K-Kotori?! What did you just—"

Kotori slid away from Umi, leaving about a foot of distance between themselves. She hesitated before answering, "I'm sorry, Umi-chan. I just wanted to try it."

"Try—!? That sort of thing is only for—"

"—married couples, right? You never change, Umi-chan." She tossed her fruit au lait can into the recycling bin next to their bench before continuing, "But that's enough about the past, isn't it. What was it you were worrying about back at school?"

"Huh?" She was having trouble keeping up with how her best friend just kissed her out of the blue and how said childhood friend was now acting so serious. "Um, could we talk about that later? I mean, you just, you …"

"Nope," she said bluntly, "I said I'd help you but the sun is already setting. I want to leave here knowing your problem has been solved."

I'm pretty sure you just gave me another thing to worry about, Umi said to herself.

"Kotori …"

"Before, you said you narrowed down your problem to two things, didn't you?"

Umi stared at Kotori for a few seconds. Seeing as how Kotori didn't avert her eyes for even a second, Umi sighed and decided to drop the topic. Really, the both of them were stubborn but it always seemed like Kotori had the upper hand when it was just the two of them without Honoka.

"... Yes, I thought of two reasons on why I can no longer accurately hit my target during archery practice. The first is that I can no longer follow the usual approach I have with archery. The second is that I am no longer moved by archery."

"Ehh? But you love archery!"

"Yes, although I can't really put my fondness of archery into a satisfactory sentence at the moment, I truly believe that I love archery. But perhaps … being a school idol and performing with everybody moves my heart much more than releasing my arrow in such a way that always hits the mark."

"Umi-chan. It isn't a contest. You can love both archery and being a school idol. Just like you can love your family and friends."

She chuckled. "You're right. I guess that option isn't my real problem then."

Kotori stared blankly at Umi for a moment before catching herself. "So, the problem is exactly how you approach archery?"

"Yes, I know it sounds strange. You see, right before I pick up my arrow I tell myself to forget everything around me except my bow and arrow, my target, the wind, and myself. It helps me focus and is especially useful during tournaments. Before, just thinking of all of those people watching me … waiting for me to miss or slip up … it was really unnerving."

"'Before?'" Kotori giggled. "You're already used to having an audience now because of µ's, aren't you?"

She lost herself in Kotori's smile, so much so that she unintentionally interrupted the smooth flow of their conversation. She stood up.

"Hm? Umi-chan?"

She sat down next to Kotori again, almost completely destroying the distance Kotori just created between the two of them. "Ah, it's nothing. I was starting to feel a bit lonely."

"U-Umi-chan … !?" She nearly squeaked and hid her burning face in her hands.

Umi cleared her throat in an attempt to mitigate her embarrassment. "I-In any case, you bring up a good point, Kotori!"

"H-huh?" Kotori asked. She couldn't even remember what they were talking about before Umi admitted to being lonely.

"You're right." She coughed again, this time successfully suppressing her embarrassment. "I'm not as afraid of audiences because I've done so many performances with µ's. Of course, since the other eight of you aren't there shooting with me during archery club activities I still get a little nervous but it's nothing compared to how I was before."

She drank the rest of her juice in a single sip and put the can aside.

"Being a school idol is nothing like all of the other things I've done in my life. Calligraphy, flower arrangement … even martial arts and traditional dance. I would practice what I was taught on my own, and then present the fruits of my hard work only when I was sure I could execute it superbly."

"Isn't it similar though? We practice our dancing and singing every single day so we could do lives that we'd always be satisfied with."

"Yes, but … I never wanted to show everybody how well I could dance with a fan or write my name with calligraphy ink. I'd just show my instructor and my family and that would be it. I'd move on to the next thing. But with µ's … I, I want to show everybody. Even if we already performed a song once, I want to perform it again and again. It'll be the same song, but I just know each performance will be different. But with my approach of archery, it's either I hit the target or I didn't … I'm sorry, I'm not making much sense, am I? I wanted to gather my thoughts more precisely before I talked to you."

Kotori placed a hand on top of Umi's nervous hands. "Not at all, Umi-chan. You always make everything you love sound beautiful. That's why I love singing the songs you make."

She gladly accepted Kotori's warm hand, scooped it into her two hands, and brought it in front of her lips. "... Thank you, Kotori," she breathed.

"... You're welcome, Umi-chan. And, you know, I think I understand what you're saying."

"Do you really?"

"Yup. When you pick up your bow and arrow, you don't want to forget everything else around you anymore. You really want to know that everybody's watching. You want to know if the archer next to you is happy that she's getting good shots or if she's frustrated because she keeps missing. How the wooden floor feels on your feet, and how it's different from all of the other floors from all of the other different places you've been to. You kept missing today because you wanted something to change, Umi-chan."

Kotori freed her hand from Umi's soft grasp and used the back of her hand to stroke Umi's cheek. She smiled. "You lost a lot of the baby fat you had in your cheeks when you were a kid, Umi-chan."

Umi flushed and stood up, eliciting a giggle from the other girl. She slung her school bag and storage tube for archery over her shoulder and tossed her juice can into the recycling bin. "Of course I did. I'm not a child anymore, Kotori. Anyway, thank you for having this conversation with me."

"Are you still feeling troubled?"

The sun had already set and the park's multiple streetlights automatically turned on.

"No, everything has become much clearer to me now. Come on Kotori, it's getting dark. I'll walk you home." She held out her hand.

Kotori looked up at the girl she has been with for more than half of her life and couldn't help but notice how breathtaking she looked with a confident grin under the park's bright, white lights. She took her hand and felt as light as a feather when Umi pulled her up. She slung her school bag over her shoulder and they walked along the illuminated path, hand in hand.

Umi couldn't wait to write the lyrics to her newest song.

* * *

A/N: Gosh, Kotoumi is absolutely adorable.

Hopefully the title makes sense now but if it doesn't, it's a play on the card game young Kotoumi were (incorrectly) playing, Koi-Koi, which roughly translates to the provoking meaning of "come on." Of course, "koi" can also mean love. Thus, I decided on the cheesy title "Love? Come on!" for the very cheesy Kotoumi.

Also, I planned to separate the plethora of flashbacks with double paragraph breaks but I forgot ff doesn't accept that. I'm not completely satisfied with the . formatting i used but whatever.


End file.
